Hacia Una Mejor Calidad De Nuestras Escuelas

In a growing revisionist tradition, comparative educational scholars challenge conventional assumptions about quality education as a singular undertaking dominated by standardised assessments and globalisation influences. The contributors to this volume illustrate the complexities and global dimensions of educational quality that emerged in their research. Several chapters critique educational reforms employing assessments aligned to global standards and large scale assessments, revealing how considerations of contextual factors, internal needs and local traditions are essential for developing a quality curriculum or for overhauling a national education system. Most chapters interrogate the uses and misuses of standardised assessment results. The contributors reveal the importance of asking critical questions about quality education: how to access it and for what purposes; what contextual and cultural factors are important; what implementation issues and local-level realities must be considered for true understanding of standardized assessment results; what content, skills and values are necessary and desirable ingredients; what roles teachers and administrators play; and what benefits accrue in terms of outcomes for employment and labor market needs or for achieving autonomy and stakeholder participation. Critiques of narrow interpretations of standardised assessment data contrast with research-based evidence that participation in large scale assessments such as PISA, TIMSS and PIRLS can indeed be beneficial to identify needed reform refinements and implementation shortcomings. Specific country cases include Brazil, Canada, the United States, Spain, Portugal, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, and the Philippines. Other chapters provide insights on quality education issues worldwide. The volume offers readers a panorama of views on the diversity of paths to quality education.

Comparative research on higher education in developing and transitional countries is often focused on such issues as access, finance, student mobility and the impact of globalization, but there has been little attention to curriculum and the forces that shape it. Confronting Challenges to the Liberal Arts Curriculum fills an important gap in the literature by examining the context, content, challenges, and successes of implementing liberal arts coursework within undergraduate curriculum. In order to fully understand the place of liberal education in each location, chapter authors have employed a wide lens to investigate the influences upon curricular content in China, India, Mexico, Pakistan, Poland, Russia, South Africa, and Turkey. Thus, this volume explores how curricular content is decided, how educational programs are being structured, and whether countries are viewing higher education as more than just the preparation of students for specialized knowledge. By providing detailed case studies of these countries at crucial transition points in their higher education systems, each chapter outlines the state of higher education system and the government’s role, the impact of imported models, the presence of a liberal education, the curricular formation, and best examples of successful programs. Ultimately, this volume depicts how global influences have come to rest in developing countries and how market forces far removed from faculty and students have shaped the undergraduate curriculum. This valuable book is of interest to scholars and researchers in Higher Education as well as practitioners working to foster student and faculty exchange and raise awareness of curricular issues.

The link between economic development and education in Latin America is generally well-recognized. A literate and educated work force is the largest single factor in explaining economic growth. In this study, the editors and contributors survey the various elementary educational systems to investigate the reasons behind the failure of schools to retain students in elementary grades. A group of scholars looks at the current state of education in four countries: Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Chile, with a view to designing more effective programs for reducing the dropout and grade repetition rates. For each country studied, there is an overview of the school system, teacher training and attitudes, centralized and decentralized planning, curriculum development, and psychological and environmental issues that contribute to school dropout.

This report develops comparative knowledge for reforms in teacher and school management policies for Mexico.

This book analyzes behavioral distortions in public schools and delineates outcome-based performance measurement systems that can prevent and mitigate them. An instrumental view of dynamic performance management (DPM) is used to support the endeavor by identifying how performance drivers affect end results of outcome and output, how end results affect strategic resources, and how strategic resources and benchmarks define the dynamics of performance drivers. This approach is also used to promote a shift from an output-oriented to an outcome-oriented view in performance management, with the aim of achieving sustainable results in the long term. The book also includes a comprehensive literature review at the end of each chapter, intended to strengthen readers’ knowledge and encourage further research. Given its scope, the book will appeal to graduate students in public management, researchers in performance management, system dynamics, and education, and decision-makers in public schools.

Countries and areas covered in this book include Africa, Asia, Latin America, Chile, Colombia, India, Mexico, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Ghana, Mongolia, Nicaragua and Tanzania.